Windows 8 Can I buy retail versions of 7 & 8.1

[R Sodwind]

I picked up a used Toshiba Satellite Pro L830 but the operating system is mashed, also there's no DVD.
So, I thought I'd buy a new OS, preferably Win 7 Home premium or Wind 8.1 (both 32bit)
The problem I'm having is difficulty buying a retail copy of either. The only ones that seem to be available (on non-suspicious sites) are OEM versions or 64bit. It's 3 or 4 years since I worked in IT & it was far easier then to buy a retail copy of Windows.
Could I get away with buying an OEM copy or is it actually possible to buy retail?

 

[patcooke]

Before you go spending money, you should have a recovery partition from which you can boot a full version of the system with which the pc was originally set up (unless someone has deleted it!). To check if it still there:

Turn off the machine, switch back on and repeatedly press the F8 key until you see the "advanced boot option screen." Select "Repair Your Computer", Select your country. On the System Recovery Options Screen select Restore Application. the follow the onscreen instructions to run a "full Factory Recovery".